Flight of the Skyfangs
by BinaryHedgehog
Summary: A story that takes place in the Duel Monsters world, not the "real" one. Beat is a plucky young porcupine who lives and breathes adventure. One faithful day, he meets a band of pirates named the Skyfang Brigade and soon goes on a life-changing adventure to help the crew find what they need most. Based on the Fur Hire card archetype.
1. Beat Meets the Skyfangs

Duel Monsters is one of the most popular games in the world. Originally a project created by former Industrial Illusions CEO Maximllion Pegasus, Duel Monsters is based on ancient Egyptian battles waged by mages. It has grown to become a global competition wherein players battle for grand prizes, fame and renown, similar to that of a major sports league. However! There is a world parallel to our own where all the spirits of the monster cards live. It is in this world is where our story takes place...

The sun rises on a new day. The sky is still dark as the ocean water evaporates and creates plenty of clouds in the air, making the morning in the slums of the port town seem overcast. Inside a dilapidated brick building lives a young porcupine named Beat. The boy lay on his side so as to not get his dark brown quills stuck in his dirty and damaged mattress. It was hard as a rock and stitched up everywhere, but he was used to sleeping on it. Heck, he found some of the unidentifiable stains charming, Even though he believes that one brown splotch near the foot of the bed is blood. Behind him on the wall was an empty window frame, long bereft of its glass pane. Next to him on a crate which acts as a nightstand was an old wind-up alarm clock. It was a bit beat up with the glass on the dial broken, the blue paint peeling off, the metal underneath rusting, and dents all over, but once the clock struck 6 the alarm went off and the bells were still as loud as ever.

Beat sits up on the bed and stretches before grabbing the clock and turning off the switch on the back to silence the alarm. He looks out the window as he takes a whiff of the salty ocean air. His brown hair and lighter brown fur start to move with the wind coming in through the "window." He stands up, standing on his toes not unlike the animal he is. The boy slept in just his white-and-black pants. They were cuffed at the ankles, near the heels that were off the ground. He grabs his short-sleeved black vest with the matching blue trim on the inside. He then puts on a pair of fingerless, backless gloves and grabs his sword, looking it over. It's a decently long blade with a bit of tape near the hilt and four diamond shapes etched into the flat end of the tip in a square pattern. Grabbing the sheath and wearing it behind him, he slides the sword in. He was all ready to head out, except for the most important thing for a Duel Spirit like him to have, his deck! He grabs his leather deck box and opens the button on the flap to look at the deck inside. It's not very good, just a mish-mash of Warrior Monsters and some Spell and Trap cards. He puts the deck away and attaches the box to his belt. He then excitedly heads out of his mostly empty room into the town to take on what would be his biggest adventure ever!

Out in town, one of the locals from outside the slums stands out with a cart of fruit. It's dangerous to be out there, but the older woman wanted to make sure fresh food was available to the children who might be stuck living in these conditions. Beat was always sure to arrive to grab an orange to stave off that scurvy he's never really had to worry about. "Morning!" He happily says to the older, fair-skinned, wrinkly woman in robes and a headscarf.

"Good morning to you, Beat!" She says back to him.

Beat reaches out with his right hand and grabs an orange, tossing it up and catching it a couple of times. "Are you sure you want to give this stuff away for free? It seems expensive to do this every day."

The older woman laughs a little. "Oh, it is, but seeing kids like you happy and healthy makes it all worth it." As she says that, Beat takes a bite into the orange, rind and all. He sees her motherly smile and can't help but smile back.

"I promise you, I'll bring back treasure from my first adventure and pay you back for what you've done for me and the others!" He says, thumping, his left fist against his fluffy chest.

Beat's attention was soon taken to the sky as he saw what appeared to be a giant wooden ship with large wings jutting out from the sides and wings parallel to the ship in the back to act as rudders. There was a gilded section in the middle that connected to the main wings that separate the wooden stern to the nicer looking bow that was striped with light and dark brown stripes parallel to the stern and bow. The front of the ship ends in a long bowsprit, from which jibs are attached to the main mast. Near the ship was a hot air balloon shaped like a cat's head with three other smaller balloons floating near it. The cat balloon had an emblem: two swords crossed with web-like wings spreading out and three claw marks down the middle. A smaller wooden ship with wings, but no sails, and a cannon coming out the bottom of the bow, appears to be circling about as well. Beat knows exactly what this is: a pirate ship! Pirates were about to make port! This got the porcupine very excited! "Sorry, I've gotta go!" He yells, running off to the port with his orange in hand, taking another large bite. The woman just smiles as small children begin to approach her for fresh fruit.

Beat soon arrives at a concrete dock overlooking the ocean. He looks up and sees the airship starting to come in for a landing. The small boat and balloon both converge at the ship so it can properly dock. The ship hovers a few feet above the water before the wings begin to retract for the ship to gently land in the water. One would expect an airship of that size to not be seaworthy, but lo and behold it floats just fine! Beat could now get a better view of the front of the airship. It had canvas rigged above the decks almost like awnings or tents, as well as a large mast with sails on it that looked like they had some form of wing pattern on them. There were also three jibs attached between the beakhead and the main mast, but these were just plain canvas. In between the two major sails on the mast was the crows nest, with rope ladders leading up to it from the main deck. This ship was a sloop, further suggesting the presence of pirates. A rope was thrown off the starboard side, towards the dock; a manticore and a dragon came down to moor the ship to the dock. The red mammal and white dragon work together to tie the boat to the dock so that it won't float or fly off.

A long plank was lowered out from the side of the ship to the ground. The first person out was a grey fish woman. She wore a captain's hat with the sword emblem on it under which grey hair came out to hide her right eye. The yellow left eye was half closed, making her look lethargic. Instead of ears, she had fins out the sides of her head and her nose stuck out a little bit over her mouth. She had on a tucked, striped, white shirt and a navy and gold-fringed cape draped down her back and held in place by a red string that was tied around her front. She had on navy pants out of the seat of which her long, pink-finned fish tail poked out. t, Behind her was a goat wearing a blue and gold coat not too much unlike the fish's cape. He wore a blue shirt underneath and brown pants. What caught Beat's attention, though, was the crystal horn he was wearing on his forehead in front of his long grey hair that went behind his head. Attached to the strap was a crystal orb that seemed to act as some sort of eyepatch. A motley crew of animals wandered out behind them. They must be the crew of the ship. There seems to be a small number for a sloop, only nine of them? Beat started to wondered how they made do.

The fish-woman makes eye contact with Beat and visibly stumbles a little in a bit of a daze.

The goat-man moved to steady her. "Captain Helmer, what is it?"He asked.

"Seal? I need to talk with you for a moment." Helmer responded. The two seemed to speak silently to themselves while the others stared on, curious and maybe a bit worried. Helmer gives a glance towards Beat, which the porcupine took as meaning they were talking about him. After the discussion ends, she walks towards him. "I've noticed you've taken an interest in us." She says, holding out a black gloved hand. "My name is Helmer. I'm the Captain of the Skyfang Brigade." She says. Her voice made her sound disinterested, but she was actually interested in meeting him. As Beat shakes her hand Helmer seems to flinch, her expression barely cracks but the extra squeeze in her grip makes Beat wonder if she's just hurt herself somehow . . This is the one, she thought to herself. "How would you like to join our crew?" She asks Beat.

Beat's eyes light up with excitement. "Yes! I would love to join your crew!" He says, jumping up and down with excitement!

Helmer stops him. I've just gotta make sure now… she again thinks to herself. "First, you have to pass a test." She says, motioning the dragon over. "You duel, kid?" She asks Beat.

Beat nods and pulls out his deck. His hands were trembling and he even fumbles a bit with the cards, almost causing them to fly everywhere! "Yeah, but my deck's not that great…" He ends up muttering

The captain smiles back at him. "Don't worry, just try your best, okay?" She says. "Your opponent will be Rafale." The white dragon from before approached Beat, shuffling his own deck. He had four pairs of wings on his back and was wearing black pants with knee armor attached to his feet. The membrane at the end of his long tail and his wings were a pink color. He held out his left arm, and the armor on his forearm became a black, gilded disc that shoots out an "arm" that contains slots for Duel Monsters cards to be played! He grabs his own deck with his right arm, covered in an ornate armor and ending a glove, and puts it into the slot. The display on top lights up with "4000", indicating his life points. The stands in front of the ship with his white hair blowing in the breeze, his black armor horns glinted in the sun as the fog burns off and he snarls with the chin piece attached to the horns to intimidate the boy. Beat nervously summons his disc, a bronze looking one with a similar arm and display. He's still trembling with his cards while he shuffles before putting his deck in and making his display light up.

The two both say "Duel!" in unison as they draw five cards to make their starting hands. Beat is already breaking into a cold sweat, his heart racing. He wasn't sure how strong Rafale was, but was already fearing the worst.

"I'll go first since you'll want the extra card." Rafale says with a smirk. He takes a card and lays it down in the middle spot on his duel disk, depicting a human in a purple cape and a dragon skull on his head, hiding his eyes. "I summon Lord of Dragons!" The dragon announces as the man on the card appears in front of Beat! The display on the boy's disk shows that it has 1200 Attack Points. Not the strongest monster to start with, thought Beat. "Next, I play the Spell Card 'Flute of Summoning Dragon!'" The porcupine's foe adds. "Since I control Lord of Dragons, I can special summon a dragon-type monster from my hand." The dragon's yellow eyes started to turn blue as he held up a card in the air and yelled out "I summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"

Lightning rains down between the two duelists as a large white dragon descends on the field. It bellows out a mighty roar that threatened to blow Beat off of his feet! Everyone watching the duel was stunned! A 3000 Attack monster on the first turn? Beat looks at the dragon and freezes up. He was in awe of the power that was in front of him. However, Rafale shouts at him to snap him out of his stupor. "I know my dragon is amazing, but we still have a Duel to play. I played a card and ended my turn while you were busy staring." He says, shaking his head and shrugging.

Beat nods. "R-right… m-my turn. I draw." He draws a card from his deck and looks at it. It shows a shady looking group of knights with the name "Exiled Force." Reading the card, it says that he can send it to the Graveyard to destroy one of Rafale's monsters. A way to beat Blue-Eyes! He needed to have another monster to defend himself with, though. "Marauding Captain" would allow him to then summon Exiled Force, so he could keep a monster on the field to defend himself with.

"I-I summon the Marauding Captain." Beat says as he places the card down on the center of the disk. Just like before, the monster pictured on the card appears between the two duelists, this time on Beat's side of the dock.

Rafale lets out a loud laugh. "You think a monster with only 1200 Attack Points can stand up against my Blue Eyes?" He taunts.

"I activate the Marauding Captain's effect to summon a Level 4 or lower Warrior monster from my hand." Beat announces as he places down Exiled Force next to the Captain on his Disk. The group appears on Beat's side of the field and the displays show that they have 1000 Attack Points. "I can sacrifice my Exiled Force to destroy one monster you control!" The boy adds, sounding more confident. Rafale just raises a brow inquisitively as Beat takes Exiled Force off of his disk and puts into a slot that represents the Graveyard. As the card is pulled in, the shadowy knights attack the dragon!

"Lord of Dragons! Stop them!" Rafale announces as the robed figure appears and is destroyed by the army, shattering like glass. The army then disappears in a flash of light.

"W-what happened?" Beat asked, eyes wide at what he just saw. "Y-your Blue Eyes was supposed to be destroyed!"

The boy's opponent just shook his head. "Lord of Dragons keeps you from targeting my Dragons with card effects, but since you already sent Exiled Force to the Graveyard, something had to go."

Beat's heart begins to race. He just made a major mistake that may have just cost him the Duel! "I-I end my turn…" He says, defeated.

Rafale just shook his head. "My turn! Draw!" He says, shouting at the top of his lungs. "Blue-Eyes, attack the Marauding Captain! Burst Stream of Destruction!" He then orders, pointing towards Beat's monster. The dragon roars out and shoots out a beam of light at the soldier. He shatters and the impact appears to wind the porcupine who summoned him. Since the difference in power between the two monsters was 1800, Beat lost that many Life Points, down to 2200. "I Set a card face down and I end my turn." Rafale finishes, placing a card in the slot behind Blue Eyes and causing a large face-down card appearing in front of the dragon.

Beat is still catching his breath from the impact, but manages to find the energy to start. "My turn. I draw." Thoughts started to run through the boy's head. This monster is unstoppable! I don't have anything in my hand to beat it! I still need to protect my life points, though, so I should probably put a monster in Defense Position. I won't take any damage even if it's destroyed. I could also put a Spell Card face down and hope he thinks it's a trap. Beat then takes a card and places it face down and sideways on his Disk. "I Set a monster!" He then takes another card and places it in the slot behind the monster. "And I place one card face down" Two face down cards appear in front of Beat, one sideways to signify it as a Defense Position monster and another card behind it. "I end my turn."

Rafale smiles. "I'll make this nice and quick. I draw!" He draws his card and then hits a button on his Dule Disk. "I reveal my face down card, the Continuous Trap Dragon's Rage!" He announces as a purple card with a picture of a dragon busting through a stone wall is turned face up. "Blue Eyes, attack his Set monster!" Rafale then orders, thrusting out his right arm again as his monster fires a beam at the sideways card. It is flipped face up to reveal a man in a blue super hero outfit for a few seconds before he, too, is shattered by the sheer force of the dragon's might. However, the porcupine is still nailed by the blast and is even knocked off his feet! After he hits the ground, he sees that he lost 2000 Life Points!

"Hey! How did I lose life points?" Beat said as he got up.

"Dragon's Rage allows me to deal Battle Damage when I destroy a Defense Position monster with my Dragons. Since your Battle Warrior only had 1000 Defense Points, you lost 2000 Life Points!" Rafale said before bursting into laughter. "I end my turn."

The porcupine's legs felt like jelly. He could barely stand up after that attack, but he still chose to fight on. He reaches for his deck and silently prays that he gets the card he needs. "M-my turn. Draw!" And in that instant, he sees just what he wanted to see. "I once again Set a monster and one card, and end my turn." He now has three cards in front of him, a face-down monster and two face-down cards behind it.

"My turn, I draw!" Rafale starts his turn, and just like the last time, order his dragon to attack. Beat was quick to react, though, and the dragon's eyes turn wide.

"I reveal my Trap Card, Mirror Force!" Beat says, revealing another purple card with a white sphere deflecting a red beam. "Your Blue Eyes is destroyed!" He announces as a white barrier appears around the face down card to deflect the white beam into the large dragon. It roars out before it explodes as its destroyed.

"No! My Blue-Eyes!" Rafale replies, as the rest of the pirate crew stare in awe. Was this boy actually going to defeat their strongest Duelist? "No matter, I have plenty of other monsters where that came from!" Beat could see him shaking. He was really starting to sweat. "I-I end my turn!"

Beat shakes his head with a smirk. "You're assuming there will be a next turn. I reveal my other face down card, Monster Reborn!" he reveals a green card with a picture of an Ankh on it. "I can use this card to bring back one monster from either Graveyard, and I choose your Blue Eyes White Dragon!"

Rafale's eyes go wide as the Graveyard on his Duel Disk glows. "You're what?" He yells incredulously. The Blue-Eyes card materializes on Beat's Duel Disk as the dragon depicted roars out and appears on Beat's field.

"And that's not all, I Flip Summon M-Warrior 1!" Beat adds, flipping over the sideways card vertically face up while the giant card in front does the same to reveal a muscular blue warrior wearing a gold mask and holding large green lance. The displays show that the monster has 1000 Attack Points.

"T-those monsters have 4000 attack points combined! That means…" Rafale started saying before Beat finished his sentence.

"This Duel is over! M-Warrior! Blue-Eyes! Attack Rafale directly!" Beat triumphantly announces as the blue warrior lunges at the dragon while Blue-Eyes shoots its energy beam. Rafale is sent flying off the dock into the ocean as his Life Points reach 0.

The dock remained silent until one of the foxes on the crew broke it by yelling "That was totally wicked!" The crew bursts into cheers in applause as the cards and monsters fade away. The manticore heads over to help Rafale out of the water as Beat sits down to catch his breath.

Helmer makes her way over to Beat and holds out her gloved hand again. Beat grabs it and she helps pull the boy up. "Welcome to the Skyfang Brigade, Beat." 


	2. Orientation

The real reason that the Skyfangs had arrived at port was to rest and relax from a long trip. After the duel they had walked over to a nearby "dining establishment", as the fancy people love to say. Wooden interior with wooden tables, wooden stools, and a fireplace that could burn the whole place down should it decide to rebel. The crew is seated around a particularly long table, each on wooden stools. At the head of the table was Helmer, standing over her surprisingly small crew. Sitting closest to her on her right is Rafale. Next to him was a pink octopus, the manticore that was seen mooring the ship, and a busty black raven. On Helmer's left, sitting closest was Seal followed by a red salamander, twin white fennec foxes, and then Beat himself. Everyone seemed to be conversing about things that Beat could not follow. As he looks about to try and get his bearings on what was going on, his eyes lock with Rafale's. He feels a chill run down his spine, Rafale was not happy and he knew it. 'Maybe it's best I try to avoid talking to him too much', he thinks to himself. In front of each crewmate is a wooden mug. For everyone but Beat, the mugs contained cold, frothy beer. The underage porcupine was given (non-alcoholic!) cider so he wouldn't feel left out.

Helmer stands up. Her mouth moves like she's speaking but Beat couldn't hear her over the raucous conversation. It was clear that none of the other could hear her either. She then gets Dyna's attention and appears to whisper something in his ear. A loud "SHUT UP!" roars from the big cat, causing everyone at the table to clap their hands over their ears, except for the foxes who had to pull their long, straight ears down.

"Thank you, Dyna." Helmer says to him before looking towards the rest of the crew. "Now, the food's not going to be ready for a little bit, so I would like to take this time to formally introduce the newest member of the Skyfang crew." She smiles and looks towards Beat. "Beat, can you stand up for us?" The Porcupine stands up to the applause of the rest of the crew, except for Rafale. Helmer's gaze wanders to him for a moment, a look of concern on her face. "Now allow me to introduce you to the other members of the crew. My name is Helmer, I'm the Captain , but you've probably figured that out already." She pulls down her hat a moment, drawing Beat's attention to it. "On my right here is Rafale." The dragon just looks aways from Beat. "He's our strongest fighter and your training partner." Rafale just snarls and turns his body away from the table and that worried look returned to her face for a brief moment. Just as quickly as that expression came, it left and she was moving on down the table. "Next is Wiz, she's our medic."

The pink octopus looks like she's smiling towards Beat, but it's hard to tell with the green veil over her mouth. "Pleasure to meet you." She says, holding out her hand for Beat to shake. The boy happily obliges.

"Next, we have Dyna. He's another one of our fighters and is really great in a pinch." Helmer says, giving attention to the red manticore. He lets out a hearty laugh full of energy, the gold decorations on his horns glinting off the light of the fireplace.

"I can already tell we've found someone special!" The he announces with his booming voice, looking quite happy that Beat is joining them.

Helmer smiles at the welcoming that Wiz and Dyna gave the boy. "And the furthest on my right is Sagitta. She's a gifted sniper that helps a lot with more… messy work." A black raven with a white top that was dangerously tight around her rather ample chest gives a sultry smile towards Beat. She tilts her head down to him so that her amber eyes meet his green ones.

"Have you been given a bunk yet? There's ample room in my quarters if you need it." She flirts, making Beat blush and look down to the table to avoid her gaze. This catches Helmer's attention quite quickly, knowing that he was just a boy.

"I think he's a bit young for you." The captain responds, scratching her cheek a little and blushing a bit. Sagitta looked a bit disappointed, but backed off. "On my left, there's Seal. He's our staff officer." She says, introducing the goat sitting closest to her, who just silently nods back respectfully. Beat recognized him as the one Helmer was conferring with before he ended up dueling Rafale. "Next is Bravo, he's another one of our fighters… and I can't really say much else nice about him." She motions to a red salamander with amber eyes that had yellow hair running from his head to the tip of his tail.

"Hey, that woundsss me." Bravo replies, speaking with a heavy lisp with his tongue coming out as he spoke, acting insulted.

Helmer smiles just a little bit before moving onto the two fennec foxes. "Finally, we have our resident twins Recon and Donpa." Two identical looks foxes smile and wave at Beat. Both had long ears and their long hair was tied up in identical ponytails. Their white fur had identical purple markings and both of them had an overbite. The one further away from him, Recon, appeared to be a girl, judging by the fact she wore a shirt while Donpa had a cape, but no shirt.

"Pleasure to meet you." Recon said, politefully bowing, her high voice showing that she was a girl.

"Yeah, we're gonna have a rockin' time!" Donpa added with his lower voice. He was jumping up and down quite a bit!

Helmer smiles and looks towards Beat. "So, Tell us a little about yourself."

Beat stands up. "Well… my parents were adventurers but something happened and… well…" He could feel himself start to tear up, he quickly clears his throat and tries again:. "Maybe I should not have started with that." He says, sitting back down and looking to the floor.

"We can try again when we get back on the Fandora. For now, just relax." Wiz said in her soft, maternal voice. Beat looks up and silently nods, starting to feel a little bit better. Conversations soon starts up again and in due time, the food finally arrives. Hot soups, cold salads, sandwiches, and a giant, cooked Niwatori which caught the attention of Dyna and Donpa. Helmer stands up and holds out her mug.

"I propose a toast to Beat and new bonds!" She says, everyone except Rafale joining in as their tapped their mugs together. After that, lunch was officially served. Donpa and Dyna both dive for the Niwtori, but Wiz whacks the big cat over the head with her staff while Recon drags her brother back. Helmer just rolls her eyes at the sight. "For that, you two get the scraps." She says in an annoyed tone. "We don't need to get kicked out of another restaurant." Rafale and Seal pass food down their respective ends of the table while Helmer carves up to meat to pass down. Wiz reaches over Dyna with Sagitta's cut and Recon over Donpa with Beat's.

Beat looked quite excited. He cannot remember the last time he's had a hot meal that was purposefully cooked that way! He would eat his meat with his hands, not to be rude but because he was the only way he knew how. Then he would notice that Helmer, Recon, Seal, and Rafale were all eating properly, but Donpa and Dyna? Complete disaster. They were making quite a mess with bits of meat and soup getting everywhere, including their neighbors. This of course upset Beat, who scoots away from Donpa and eats on his own. Something was bothering him, though. Well, a couple of things, actually. First of all Dyna isn't a manticore. It must've been the fog this morning. What really was bothering him was the way Rafale refused to acknowledge the porcupine. Every time he looked to the dragon, the dragon would look away. Since Rafale wasn't going to talk to Beat, he decides to ask the burning question on everyone's minds.

"Hey, Dyna? I don't mean to be impersonal and please don't take this the wrong way but… What exactly are you? I thought you were a manticore but now I'm not so sure." He asks Dyna.

"You know? I'm not really sure myself. I think I'm a big cat, but these horns make me question everything." Dyna responds. "It's why I choose not to care!" He adds with a hearty laugh.

Beat can't help but smile at Dyna. "I guess you're right, it really doesn't matter!" He responds. The crew soon finishes the meal and they head back to the ship while Helmer deals with the most pressing issue of our generation: The check. Beat follows the crew up the gangway and waits on the top deck for Helmer to arrive. Once she appears, she heads over to Beat.

"I'll give you a tour of the ship so you can more easily navigate once we get moving." Helmer says, leading him down into the lower deck to show him the cabins, including the one he'll be sharing with Donpa. Each one was a room with a light up top powered by magic so as to not let a very destructive flame out that could burn the ship down. To each side of Beat was a blue and white-striped hammock as well as a pair of wooden chairs and a desk placed across from the entrance. Donpa was already laying in his hammock to rest and digest his meal, but manages to sit up and give a welcoming smile to Beat.

Next up was the training dojo that they used whenever they practiced on the ship. It was a large room with several rings for the pirates to spar in. The far wall had racks for wooden swords used for training and a giant flag with the now familiar Skyfang emblem. There was also calligraphy hanging on the walls. "Dark," "Light," "Earth," "Wind," "Fire," and "Water" were the most prominent, and Beat recognized them from the myth that all spirits have an elemental alignment they are born with, regardless of how prominent it may be. The rest were probably just some inspirational words like "strength" and "spirit."

She then would show him a meeting room that was originally intended for only official meetings, but has become a multipurpose room used for eating and playing games, mostly of the card variety. This also makes it a sort of makeshift training place for duels. A long table rested in the middle with an ornate chair in the center of side to the entrance's right. Behind it was a map and the Skyfang emblem once again. The table was surrounded by nine more wooden stools to make ten seats. This struck Beat as odd. Why were there ten seats around this table if Beat had only just joined a couple hours ago?

Before he could ask why there was a seat for a crew member they just met, Helmer started to speak again. "You can head back over to your cabin for a bit as we prepare for takeoff. Training will begin soon after." Beat nods and heads back to his quarters, where he finds Donpa there playing on an acoustic guitar, sitting cross-legged on the floor, his skirt draping over his legs, but he could see the feathers under the left part of it and the athletic tape on his upper legs. The thing most noticeable about him, and his twin as well, is the fact that he has quite an overbite.

"I didn't know you played the guitar." Beat asked, going to sit on his hammock.

Donpa doesn't stop his relaxing melody as he responds. "Yeah, been playing it since I was a little kit." He replies.

"Where did you learn that song? It's nice and relaxing." Beat asked.

"Oh, I wrote it!" Donpa says with a big smile. "I've been getting into writing music lately."

Beat turns to see the desk is filled with staff paper with notes, and other kinds of music-y things written on it. He wasn't even going to pretend to understand any of it. "So, where does Recon sleep?" Beat asked, assuming that the two twins would share a room.

"Strict rule on disallowing co-ed habitation. Recon can hang out here but she can't spend the night without a good reason." Donpa explains, crossing his arms and turning his head away. "I personally disagree with it, but rules are rules."

Helmer's voice came through the speaker located on the roof near the entrance. "We are now going to begin our ascent. Soon after we reach cruising altitude we will begin training. Gotta work off that big meal we had." With a click from the speaker, the sails come down and the wings spread out as the ship begins to lift up from the water. Beat could feel the lift under his feet, and it was a new sensation to him as he had never been in airship before. After a bit of time, the rising feeling stopped as the ship went full speed ahead. "You are now free to move about the ship, and by that, I mean get your tails to training."

Beat and the rest of the crew, except Helmer, all arrived at the training dojo to spar together. Seal stood over the crew. Seal clears his throat to get everyone's attention. "Since we have someone new joining us today, we'll be practicing simple sword strikes. First to five. No hitting above the shoulders or below the belt. Reset after each strike." He then looks over the crew to pair them up. "Recon, Donpa. You're in ring 2." He says to the two foxes, who smile at each other and go to get prepared in the back left part of the room, grabbing wooden swords and getting into a fighting stance with them towards the center of the white ring. "Bravo, Dyna. Ring 3." The big cat and the salamander head to the back right. "Wiz, Sagitta. Ring 4" The octopus and raven go over the ring at the front left. Beat started to feel his heart race again. He was going to paired up with Rafale, and he could sense that the dragon was still a slight bit pissed at him. "Rafale, Beat. Ring 1. Captain's orders." Helmer had put them together, Beat knew it. He didn't really think they would just kiss and make up, but he didn't seem to have much of a choice. He heads to the back and grabs a wooden sword before standing in fighting position and facing Rafale in the center of the center ring.

Beat and Rafale both held the swords out in front of them, but the boy was holding his quite tightly. He was trembling with nerves, Rafale was an honorable fighter, right? He would never fight dirty. Seal was standing between them as he looked to the two fighters. "Alright, the goal is to strike your opponent with your sword. No striking above shoulders or below the belt, and arms count. After a blow has been struck, reset to the center of the ring for the next round. First to land five strikes wins. Ready? Begin." Seal steps out of the way so that two could fight and the dragon was quick to swing his sword to try and land the first strike. Suddenly, everything started to go slowly as the porcupine's senses were heightened. He manages to duck under the sword and swing his at the dragon, striking his side. "Side strike, Beat" Seal says, giving the point. The dragon snorts and gets back into position. "Ready, begin." Suddenly Rafale moves to make an overhead strike on Beat, who quickly holds up his sword to block it. Seal quickly intervenes, as it was an attempted head strike. "Hey, watch it!" Seal said, interposing himself between the two fighters. He then turns to Beat, who is now quaking where he stood. "You alright, Beat?"

Beat just gives a nod. "Y-yeah.. Just a bit a bit of a shock is all." He says as he calms down. Seal turns and gives a stern look at Rafale.

"I'm going to give you a warning for that." Seal said, clear he wasn't gonna put up with Rafale's aggression. "This is not the place to take your frustrations out. Calm down or I'll have to reprimand you." The two fighters reset and the battle begins. Rafale swings big again and Beat deftly moves to side to dodge it before counter attacking and hitting the dragon in the chest. "Front strike, Beat." Rafale was starting to get visibly agitated, and it started to make Beat fear him. Seal calls for the round to begin and all of a sudden the dragon delivers a front kick square in the porcupine's gut! He clutches his body and drops his sword, starting to feel sick. "That's enough! I'm ending this!" Seal said, now getting concerned for Beat's safety as he stumbles a bit in a struggle to stay standing. "Are you okay, Beat?"

"I... really don't... feel good." He says, ears ringing and feeling overall sick before everything turned black. 


End file.
